


I don't think you understand

by Kildren



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Post Reveal, bit of fluff in the end?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-07 21:51:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18881956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kildren/pseuds/Kildren
Summary: Lena and Kara talk, post reveal.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A little something I had in mind.

When Lex revealed Supergirl’s true identity, Lena didn’t say a word. She froze momentarily, but much to his dismay she didn’t give him the satisfaction of watching her fall apart before his eyes.

Lena remained silent when he was taken away from her, headed to the place where he belongs.

When the situation died down and further investigation proved Supergirl to be a victim of Lex’s grand plan, everything goes back to normal. Life continues on, and when Kara comes to visit Lena pretends that she doesn’t know about her Kryptonian heritage. During their many hang outs she watched carefully as Kara struggled with her words, only to fail at expressing them.

It finally happened after another life and death situation for the Super. At Alex’s request, Lena was sitting at Kara’s bedside and waiting for her to wake up. She monitored the Kryptonian’s health and parsed information on the newest alien technology discovered by the DEO while she waited. When Kara awoke, Lena sighed in relief.

“Supergirl, glad to see—”

“Kara,” she interrupts as she sits up, her eyes clear with determination and focused on the Luthor. “My name is Kara Zor-El.” A brief pause. “Human alias, Kara Danvers.”

Lena can feel Kara’s anxiety rolling off her like waves when she doesn’t respond immediately. As seconds go by the tension in the air rises, little by little. The Luthor imagined countless times how this would go and the words she might say, yet in the end she settles for the simplest and honest answer.

“I know. Lex told me.”

Kara closes her eyes and hangs her head low for a few seconds before looking at Lena again. “I had planned to tell you everything after he was captured but I—” she stops and heaves a sigh. “It shouldn’t have happened that way. Lots of things shouldn’t have.”

“I think deep down I already knew the truth,” Lena confesses. “I simply didn’t want to acknowledge it, that’s why I gave that speech about trust and betrayal on the plane. I wanted to scare you, I wanted to push back the inevitable.”

Kara chuckles. “It certainly worked then, but now...you know.”

Lena easily senses the uncertainty behind her words. “I’m still here, aren’t I?” she responds softly. Sometimes she wonders why she still clings onto Kara despite it all. The Luthor rises from her chair and places a hand on the Kryptonian’s shoulder. “I’m going to give Alex an update. You should rest some more.”

She can feel Kara’s eyes on her as she makes her way to the door. Before she turns the knob she pauses for a moment. “I’m sorry you felt like you couldn’t tell me,” she whispers.

Just when she’s opened the door Kara appears beside her and holds it shut with her left hand, the sudden movement startling Lena.

“You’re not leaving,” the Super says in a hushed tone that makes Lena realize how close they are right now, “not like this. You can’t just say that and leave, I don’t—I don’t want us to be like before. We need to talk. We _have_ to.”

Lena keeps her eyes trained on the door knob, knowing that if she looked Kara in the eyes right now she’d most definitely say something she’d regret. Earlier on she could deal with the reveal simply because Kara didn’t realize her secret was out, and she was still Kara Danvers. Now that there were no secrets between them their relationship shifted into the unknown, and she knew she needed time to deal with the changes.

“There’s no need,” she replied with an edge to her voice, hoping that Kara would understand. “We’re fine, aren’t we?”

“Do you really believe that? Look me in the eyes and say that you do.”

“There’s nothing to talk about, Kara, _nothing._ So what if you concealed your identity? I’ve hid multiple things from you, we’ve both done things we weren’t proud of—but when the truth comes out we eventually forgive each other, that’s what we do.”

The Kryptonian seems to relent at her words and shifts her weight from the door, just a little bit. “I want you to know that I could have told you the truth, but I chose not to.  It would have been easier to tell you a few years back when we truly became friends, yet the timing never felt right so I never told you.”

Lena closes her eyes briefly. “I get it, Kara.  You’re sorry and you want to explain but I think we both know that it’s unnecessary. We should let bygones be bygones, remember?” 

“I don’t think you understand,” Kara whispers as she reaches for her hand, fingertips grazing against the back of Lena’s hand before gently taking hold. “I care about you too much, Lena, more than I ever imagined. As we grew closer my fear of losing you also strengthened, so I gave myself countless excuses as to why you shouldn’t know and how my deceit was needed to keep you safe...”

When Kara trails off without another word, Lena finally meets her gaze after a moment of silence. She feels her heart betray her when the Super smiles in response, a spark of amusement in those blue eyes.

“What are you trying to say, Kara?” 

The Kryptonian’s expression slowly shifts into a serious one, and Lena thinks she must be imagining when Kara’s eyes dart towards her lips and back up. “There's one more thing I’m hiding from you. ”  She pauses and draws a breath. “Lena, I—”

All the sudden there’s sounds of someone knocking on glass, and Lena is reminded that there’s a rather large window attached to the room. Not that they were doing anything improper, but she wasn’t quite sure how the DEO agents walking by would interpret their actions.

She tentatively looks past Kara’s shoulder and sees Alex standing on the other side with an impatient look, mouthing words only Kara can hear.  Lena gazes back to Kara just in time to see her roll her eyes and mutter some Kryptonian.  When Kara releases her hand and steps back, Lena finds herself missing the warmth already.

“Director’s orders,” the Super says as she swings the door open.

Instead of walking out  like she originally wanted to, Lena closes the door. “I’m not leaving until you finish your sentence.”

Blue eyes soften under her gaze, and Kara leans forward to whisper in her ear. “I love you.” Before she can respond the Kryptonian pulls back. “Alex really needs you right now.”

“We’re _definitely_ talking about this,” Lena breathes out. 

Kara beams, and Lena knows that she already has her answer in mind.


	2. Chapter 2

Kara knows she shouldn’t feel hopeful, Rao knows she shouldn’t, but...Lena stayed by her side even after she knew she was Supergirl, that was a good sign. She didn’t slam the door and leave after hearing her confession, also a good sign. If it was anything like the movies, they would have made up (or you know, made out) by now and received their happy ending. Bad thing was, Lena had to go to the other side of the world for a business deal mere hours after her confession!

“What’s got you so spaced out?”

Kara jerked her head towards her sister. “Nothing,” she replied quickly.

“You know you’re just grabbing for air right now?”

The Kryptonian looks down at her plate and realizes there’s no more food. Her chopsticks have been waving in vain for who knows how long. “Alex!” she admonishes when she sees her food on the redhead’s plate.

“Let me guess,” her sister drawls as she picks up a shrimp, “Lena? You two seemed pretty close earlier at the DEO. Actually, you guys restarted the betting pool between agents.”

“Pfft, what makes you think—wait, betting pool?! Restarted?!”

Kara almost wants to zap Alex’s plate when she takes her sweet time chewing on her shrimp. She needed answers! After a couple minutes Alex finally talks.

“Ever since Lena came to help out at the DEO, everyone has noticed how...interesting your relationship is. The pool grew cold after a while and we all were going to begrudgingly admit that the two of you were only friends, but after seeing you trap her against the door—” Alex pauses and chuckles. “You’ve got them all fired up again.”

“I did _not_ trap her!” Kara exclaims indignantly, though the blush on her cheeks betray her. “I—I only blocked the door a little.”

Her sisters arches a brow. “Right. So...what got you so worked up in there, huh?”

“Nothing!” Kara stresses, “Only the fact that she knows I’m Supergirl.”

Alex seems unfazed by the news. “I guess that means your first date is going to be at the DEO? Be a gentlewoman and escort Lena to my office to sign some NDA forms, will you?”

Kara grumbles. “I didn’t sign up for this teasing when I became your sibling.”

Her sister laughs. “This is _exactly_ what siblings do.”

//

Kara waited for ten days until she finally received _the_ text from Lena. During these days their messages consisted of simple greetings and short exchanges of how their days went, but today Lena told her she was back in National City and asked Kara to go to her apartment (via the lobby and all like a normal person) for dinner.

Oh Rao, was this a date or not? Probably not, best not get ahead of herself, Kara thought. What if they ended up fighting? Again? She didn’t want that to happen but Lena had every right to express how hurt she must have felt now that everything was out in the open. The Kryptonian could stand being yelled at, as long as they made up in the end.

At least whatever this was, it wasn’t happening in the DEO like Alex said it would.

Kara reaches Lena’s unit promptly at seven with a food basket in tow. She had flow around the world seconds after she received Lena’s text, bringing the Luthor all her favourites that she mentioned before in their conversations.

The blonde grins when Lena opens the door before she pressed the doorbell. She must have been standing near the door waiting for her. “Hi,” Kara greets happily, holding up the food basket.

“Hey,” Lena replies with a soft smile. “Good thing I haven’t ordered yet.”

Kara steps in and upon Lena’s instructions, sets the basket on the glass table near the fireplace. What were they supposed to do now? Talk first? Eat first? Maybe watch a movie and delay the inevitable? She wasn’t really sure. Thankfully, Lena starts the conversation by offering her a cushion while they settled down on the carpet.

“I was mad. Mad at Lex, you, and even myself. As I said before I knew who you were, only I didn’t want to believe it. I was in denial, I wanted to pretend that you were my friend because we were Lena and Kara, not because we were a Luthor and a Super.”

Kara watched as Lena stared into nothing, her hand idly picking on the corner of her cushion. “Lex reopened that wound, and as per usual his words made it sting even more. He played a video, you know? Seeing Kara Danvers doing something only Supergirl could do...seeing that transformation right in front of me was a huge blow. I couldn’t lie to myself anymore.”

The Luthor gazes at Kara. “I know you had your reasons and I know I said I could get onboard with your secrets, but it still hurt. It hurt so much, Kara, to fall in love with someone leading a double life. Not knowing whose words to believe in, not knowing the other side of you and waiting—god, the waiting— _waiting_ to hear you say the truth. Waiting for that sign of trust.”

“Now you know,” Kara whispers. “When Clark comes back I can take you to Argo and share my culture with you. I can tell you everything, _anything_ , just say the word and I will.”

Lena chuckles softly. “You shouldn’t make such promises. It’s best that we start slow, don’t you think?”

“Where does that leave us?”

“For now we stay friends,” the Luthor replies with a shrug, “and when the time is right...”

Kara nods slowly. “I can still say I love you though? And hug you for an extra ten seconds? Maybe give you kisses on your forehead? Hold your hand? Friends hold hands.”

Lena’s eyes flick down to Kara’s lips as soon as she hears the word ‘kisses’, and if Kara hadn’t been paying attention she most definitely wouldn’t have seen that. She wonders if Lena has loved her longer, wonders how many times she’s been oblivious to all the minuscule actions of attraction Lena has shown.

“Sure,” Lena replies with a smile. "Why not?"

Kara grins. Lena didn't yell at her like she had originally anticipated, that was a good sign. They managed to talk things through and Lena gave indication that there could be an 'us', also a good sign. Bad thing was...actually, there wasn't a bad thing at all. Well, maybe except the embarrassing stories Alex definitely had in store for Lena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


End file.
